House Democrats Introduce H.R. 1, First Bill of 116th Congress

On Friday, House Democrats introduced a sweeping anti-corruption bill as the first piece of legislation in the 116th Congress. The bill covers three main planks: campaign finance reform, strengthening the government’s ethics laws, and expanding voting rights.

The House is working with Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) to introduce a companion H.R. 1 bill in the Senate. While the legislation will pass the House, it stands little to no chance of passing the Republican-controlled Senate or being signed by President Trump. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told the press bluntly, “That’s not going to go anywhere.” Below is a breakdown of the various provisions included within the bill. A PDF of the 500+ page bill is attached below.

Campaign finance provisions

Creates a 6:1 public financing model for contributions $200 or less.

Calls for a constitutional amendment to end Citizens United.

Passes the DISCLOSE Act, which would require Super PACs and “dark money” political organizations to make their donors public.

Passes the Honest Ads Act, championed by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Mark Warner (D-VA) and introduced by Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-WA) in the House, which would require Facebook and Twitter to disclose the source of money for political ads on their platforms and share how much money was spent.

Mandates government contractors disclose any political spending.

Restructures the Federal Election Commission to have five commissioners instead of the current four, in order to break political gridlock.

Prohibits any coordination between candidates and Super PACs.

Ethics

Requires the president and vice president to disclose 10 years of his or her tax returns. Candidates for president and vice president must also do the same.

Stops members of Congress from using taxpayer money to settle sexual harassment or discrimination cases.

Gives the Office of Government Ethics the power to do more oversight and enforcement and put in stricter lobbying registration requirements.

Creates a new ethical code for the US Supreme Court, ensuring all branches of government are impacted by the new law.

Voting rights

Creates a new national automatic voter registration that asks voters to opt0out, rather than opt-in, ensuring more people will be signed up to vote. Early voting, same-day voter registration, and online voter registration would also be promoted.

Designates Election Day a holiday for federal employees and encourages private sector businesses to do the same, requiring poll workers to provide a week’s notice if poll sites are changed, and making colleges and universities a voter registration agency (in addition to the DMV, etc), among other updates.